Knowing crime on the street where you live

Today has seen the launch of www.police.uk, an interactive website providing maps and details about crime in an area the user can select. Except it keeps crashing. A pretty poor return for a £300,000 investment.

Home Secretary Theresa May says that the online maps have been borne “from a real feeling that people have lost confidence in national crime figures”, but VN is not really sure what the point of the site is. Far from being about people power, it just seems like a bit of gimmick. People don’t want to see a map of crime, they want crime reduced. Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, while broadly praising the idea, said that “since the General Election we have lost around 2,000 police officers and, with 20% cuts to police budgets, this is only the thin end of the wedge.”

Apparently the most crime ridden area in the UK is Glovers Court, Preston, which will be nice and reassuring for the residents. Policing Minister Nick Herbert insisted that highlighting areas of higher instances of crime on the site would not increase the fear of crime, saying “We can’t sweep the issue of crime under the carpet”.